COLUMBUS, Ohio — It was billed by the Columbus Blue Jackets as “Knockout New Year’s Eve,” but that didn’t go quite as planned. Not only was the fight card shorter than expected, but the party was spoiled by the visitors.

The New Jersey Devils, who have been in a tailspin since a strong start, came off the mat to score three goals in 1 minute, 56 seconds early in the third period, stunning the Blue Jackets 3-2 before a crowd of 17,163 in Nationwide Arena on Wednesday night.

It was actually a poetic way for the Blue Jackets to end 2025, because squandered leads and tough-to-take losses have actually been the theme of this season.

The Blue Jackets dictated play for most of the first two periods: smart decisions with the puck, a physical advantage along the walls and control of the pace against a Devils club that played in Toronto only 24 hours earlier.

But the checks weren’t finished as hard — or at all — in the third period, especially after the Devils scored a power-play goal 2:49 into the period to cut the Blue Jackets’ lead to 2-1.

“I’d have to watch it through and see, but it does seem like we took our foot off the gas a little bit,” Blue Jackets center Charlie Coyle said. “I think that’s safe to say. I could be wrong, but that’s what it seemed like, and they put their foot on the gas a little bit. It’s kind of a double whammy there.

“They get a weird one there, and then they just fed off of that. And we just kind of watched it happen.”

The “weird one” was Nico Hischier’s power-play goal only four seconds — four — after the Blue Jackets went down a skater on Kirill Marchenko’s hooking penalty. The puck went through two screens and was deflected before shooting between the pads of Blue Jackets goaltender Jet Greaves.

“There was some traffic in there, for sure,” said Greaves, who stopped 30 of 33 shots. “It was a little tough to pick up, but that’s a save I have to make. At the end of the day, it’s my job to keep pucks out.”

Only 55 seconds after Hischier’s goal, the Devils made it 2-2 when Arseny Gritsyuk fired a wrister past Greaves off the rush from the right circle. The Devils took a 3-2 lead only 1:01 later when Luke Hughes, left all alone in the left circle, beat Greaves with a one-timer.

“Three minutes,” Blue Jackets right winger Mathieu Olivier said. “So, 57 minutes of good hockey, and we lose a game. I don’t know what to tell you.

“I’m not saying they didn’t play well. It was a pretty hard-fought game. I don’t want to take credit away from them, but, you know, three minutes … two minutes, and that’s what costs us the game. So, yeah, very frustrating.”

But nothing new for the Blue Jackets.

After three straight regulation wins — each capped off with strong third-period closures — the Blue Jackets may have believed they were beyond this nasty habit. It’s those third-period collapses that explain why Columbus is in last place as the calendar flips to 2026.

Coach Dean Evason said he considered taking a timeout to stop the bleeding, but he thought the Blue Jackets could make it to the next TV timeout (at the six-minute mark), and he didn’t sense panic among his players, he said.